Linux Kernel Running in PC Emulator Written in JavaScript

Fabrice Bellard created a PC emulator written in pure JavaScript (using Typed Arrays) that runs Linux. Why? “For fun,” of course, and because Bellard claims “newer Javascript Engines are fast enough to do complicated things.” Bellard suggests a few uses of the emulator could be to benchmark JavaScript engines, use it for client side processing using an x86 library (Bellard suggests for cryptographic purposes), and a more advanced version would allow people to use it for running old DOS PC software, which would allow people to diverge from having to use resource-intensive DOS emulators like DOSBox to play old PC games.

For more detailed information on the emulator, check out the accompanying technical notes. For a little background on Fabrice Bellard, check out this article and find out why this guy is a computing genius.